Annual Porchfest held in Sea Cliff

More than 1,000 residents and music lovers strolled the streets of Sea Cliff as 22 local bands performed on porches throughout the village on Saturday. 

The event was organized Sea Cliff-based nonprofit Love Your Neighbor Project. It serves as a yearly fundraiser for the organization. This year, roughly $30,000 were raised, according to Jaime Teich, Love Your Neighbor Project’s founder. 

“The growth,” Teich said, “not only from the amount of financial support, but the amount of people support was tremendous this year.” 

The nonprofit’s work includes giving scholarships to students in the community, giving grants to community members for impactful projects, helping neighbors in need and contributing to Go Fund Me’s opened by neighbors. 

Teich explained last week that the money raised during Porchfest plays a large role in the organization’s ability to support the community. 

Not only local residents showed up. People from Westchester, Brooklyn, as well as elsewhere on Long Island attended, according to Teich. 

“I heard so many people say, ‘I met this person, I met that person’,” she said, “and there’s something special about that.”

Porchfest ran from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. with two bands performing simultaneously throughout the first four hours. Performances were divided into a “North tour” and a “South tour.” The tours combined at 3 p.m. with only one band playing at a time for the rest of the night. Sea Cliff resident Sean Llewellyn puts together the Porchfest schedule each year. 

Teich said that this year’s Porchfest was particularly well-received. 

“There was something different about this year, we heard that a lot,” she said, “and nobody can quite put their finger on it. It was as if the laughter was louder, and the smiles were brighter, and the crowd was mellow, and so into being in it.”

Food trucks were parked near Clifton Park for attendees to eat on the go. Restaurants and other businesses in the village were also open. 

Love Your Neighbor Project has partnered with dancer and environmental activist Martita Goshen to present “The Way of the Whale,” including a workshop and dance performance on June 5.